A bowl of spicy comfort, made with ginger, lemon, carrots, sweet potatoes and lentils. The spice and lemon scare off the flu, while the lentils and sweet potatoes fill you up. This soup is loaded with Vitamin A, C and other immune boosting ingredients like turmeric, garlic and cayenne pepper.
Flu season has reared it’s nasty head and is looking to give away some sniffles. Just this last week a handful of my colleagues were home sick. If you live in Montreal, you can attest to the fact that the weather is just as ugly as people’s coughs right now, and it won’t get better anytime soon. During this time – whether you’re sick or not – it’s best to drink lots of fluids and get those soups simmering.
I created this soup as a spin on my family’s home flu remedy: Flu Killer Tea. This is a tea that will kill you, and then your flu. It contains ginger, lemon, honey, turmeric and cayenne pepper. My family is especially heavy handed with the cayenne, but I went light for this soup. The soup version contains all those ingredients except the honey. I figured let’s make this tea into a meal that can also fill you up with some good carbs and protein.
Make a batch for lunches, or store some in the freezer. This recipe will yield about 6 – 8 bowls. Serve it with a lemon wedge or some homemade garlic croutons.
Bon Ap!
A bowl of spicy comfort! This soup is made with ginger, lemon, carrots, sweet potatoes and lentils. The spice and lemon scare off the flu, while the lentils and sweet potatoes fill you up. This soup is loaded with Vitamin A,C and other immune boosting ingredients like turmeric, garlic and cayenne pepper.
Ingredients
- 2 onions, diced
- 5 tbsp ginger, minced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound carrots, roughly chopped
- 2 cup sweet potatoes, roughly cubed
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 2/3 cup lentils, rinsed
- 8 cups vegetable broth
- Juice of one lemon
- 1 tsp cumin, whole
- 1/2 tsp turmeric, ground
- 1/2 tsp coriander, ground
- 1/8 tsp cayenne
- 1/8 tsp all spice, ground
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg, ground
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat and cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until they soften, about 5 to 8 minutes. Do not let the onions brown. Sprinkle a teaspoon of salt over the onions as they cook.
- Add minced garlic, ginger, cumin and turmeric, cook for another couple of minutes over low-medium heat.
- Add carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, red lentils, coriander, nutmeg, all spice, cayenne pepper, and cover, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes.
- Add the vegetable broth, stir, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat back to low-medium and simmer for 20 minutes uncovered, or until tender.
- Add the coconut milk, stir, and continue to simmer for a few more minutes, remove from heat.
- Carefully transfer soup (in batches) into a blender (or use a hand blender), and blend until smooth. Taste, add salt and pepper as needed.
- Stir in lemon juice, serve with an extra pinch of cayenne, and enjoy!
